Silchar, July 13: An army study group that scanned the insurgency scenario has warned of heightened militant activity in the region, particularly Nagaland and Manipur, after the monsoon and immediately after Christmas. The group?s 15-page confidential report, titled ?Insurgency in New India?, states that assorted groups of militants are planning to go into an overdrive during the post-monsoon period.
The accent of the operations will be on augmenting their resources and manpower through extortion and recruitment of school and college dropouts, the report says.
After Christmas, the militant groups are expected to shift their focus to operations against security forces. A team led by Col Vijay Pande conducted the study. A copy of the document is with The Telegraph.
The report suggests major changes in the strategy of security forces engaged in counter-insurgency operations across the Northeast. One recommendation is to focus on psychological operations to expose the militants for what they are.
The report makes a case for ?establishing moral ascendancy of troops? by supplementing the offensive against militants with a campaign to remove the ?feeling of alienation of the general public in the Northeast?. It says security forces need to make concerted efforts to win the hearts of the people in the areas where they are deployed.
The report advocates sound public relations and effective media management to achieve this objective.
The concept of psychological operations, according to the document, necessitates ?demolition of insurgent ideology, promotion of factionalism among the guerrilla gangs, upholding the correct image of the security forces and highlighting national achievements?.
Another recommendation by the study group is absolute area-domination wherever militant groups are known to be active. It states that security forces need to go in ?hot pursuit? of fleeing militants, who invariably seek refuge in neighbouring Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
To gain further advantage against the rebels, the document stresses the need to set up an exhaustive databank on each militant unit?s area of operation. Frequent patrolling, overhaul of the intelligence-gathering machinery, intense surveillance of villages that are suspected to be pro-militant, participation in local social activities and civic action programmes are the other suggestions.